Congress
Trump wants House to ‘get on board’ with Washington budget fix
President Donald Trump wants Congress to repair a significant cut to the District of Columbia’s budget and is happy to leave the procedural details to Speaker Mike Johnson, according to two White House officials.
But the president is prepared to work the phones — or, if needed, fire off a social media post — to correct legislative language that could have major repercussions for the capital city if left unaddressed.
Last Friday, the Senate passed a Trump-endorsed bill that would restore as much as $1.1 billion in local funding, according to District officials, that was — inadvertently, by some accounts — slashed by the government spending measure signed into law the next day.
The president has confidence the speaker will bring the bipartisan measure up for a vote, said a White House official granted anonymity to discuss Trump’s thinking.
How the bill gets through the House, however, is “sausage-making in the background,” said the official. “I don’t think he’ll publicly call for Johnson to bring [the fix] to the floor — that’s going to be a behind-the-scenes thing. If [Trump] must, though, a pressure campaign from Truth Social is always a possibility.”
If need be, Trump also is open to making calls to individual House members to ensure their support for the budget fix: “The president has no problem using his phone to make sure members get on board with what he’s trying to do.”
A second White House official, also granted anonymity to share private conversations, described the District of Columbia cut in the funding bill as “an oversight” that would eventually be fixed. That official said the White House wasn’t pressuring House GOP leaders and was giving Johnson space to figure out the way forward.
But Trump could, at some point, grow impatient: part of his interest in getting the budget fix approved is about extending an olive branch to Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser, one of the White House officials said.
While Bowser has pushed back on the threat to the city’s budget, she has mostly spoken respectfully about Trump and has recently taken steps to comply with GOP priorities for the city — for instance, dismantling the “Black Lives Matter Plaza” her administration set up near the White House amid the 2020 racial justice protests.
She so far has been viewed by the White House as a “good actor” in the endeavor to get the budget fix enacted, according to the official.
Still, congressional Republicans note the city won’t run out of money in the meantime; they also argue the shortfall is closer to $500 million, not $1.1 billion. In any case, local elected officials and their allies say a failure to enact the repair bill would effectively force the District of Columbia to make dramatic mid-fiscal-year cuts to law enforcement, infrastructure improvement efforts and public education.
As House Republicans worked to advance a seven-month funding bill to avert a government shutdown last week, GOP leadership did not include routine language allowing the District to continue spending its local budget dollars. And while leaders made several changes to the bill text just before bringing it to the House floor for a vote, they didn’t address Washington’s funding omission.
It caught many senior lawmakers off guard.
“It came as a surprise to me and explains why the mayor has called me,” Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins of Maine said in an interview. “It certainly wasn’t something we did.”
House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) at first told reporters he thought the omission was to rescind funding for “a lot of inaugural stuff,” saying “we’re not leaving inauguration funding going to D.C. in a bill when there’s not an inauguration.”
He later acknowledged that not all the slashed funding fell under that inauguration category, but he declined to address it, saying he’d have to “look at it in more detail” and that “it’s actually in the weeds.”
Many facets of the District of Columbia are subject to congressional oversight, but most of the city’s $21.2 billion budget is funded by local taxpayers. Roughly $5 billion comes from the federal government — the vast majority through formula-based federal programs, such as Medicaid, similar to what states receive.
Johnson now has to figure out when and how to bring the bill up for a floor vote amid opposition from hard-liners in his rebellious conference. GOP leaders feel like they have some time to figure out the way forward.
The speaker is not currently planning to advance the bill Monday through the Rules Committee, which would pave the way for a floor vote requiring a simple majority that could splinter Republicans on a procedural motion needed to bring the measure forward. Most likely, Johnson will need to pursue an expedited floor maneuver in the coming weeks that requires a two-thirds majority vote to secure passage.
Outside pressure — not just from Trump — could continue to build. City residents gathered outside the tiny House Rules Committee room for its initial meeting to set parameters for floor debate on the stopgap funding bill, raising alarms and objections to lawmakers about the consequences of the cuts.
Rep. Max Miller, facing allegations of domestic abuse from his ex-wife, said he would ask the House Ethics Committee to investigate the claims in an attempt to clear his name.
“In light of all the renewed interest in my family affairs I am going to file my own paperwork for an ethics investigation into myself to clear my name from these horrific attacks on myself and family,” the Ohio Republican said in an X post. “I have absolutely nothing to hide.”
Miller is facing calls to resign after GOP Sen. Bernie Moreno, the father of Miller’s ex-wife Emily Moreno, said he should not serve in the House and should “seek professional help.”
Miller has denied allegations of domestic abuse from Emily Moreno. He attempted to defend himself Sunday in a livestreamed monologue and by publishing a trove of documents related to the divorce. Those documents included an “intimate image” of their daughter, which Miller’s lawyer Aaron Minc said he uploaded by mistake.
A spokesperson for Emily Moreno did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Miller’s request for a House Ethics investigation. A committee spokesperson also did not immediately respond.
Miller said he would provide the panel with “all necessary documents needed for a detail examination.” It is unlikely the committee, which historically works slowly, would make any assessment ahead of the November midterm election where he is facing a strong Democratic challenger.
“The accusations continue to change, but my facts stay the same,” Miller said. “I am looking forward to my colleagues reading everything for themselves.”
Todd Blanche took a major step toward confirmation as attorney general Tuesday after the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 12-10 on party lines to advance his nomination, likely setting up a final vote within days.
His nomination, at risk of being withdrawn just last week, now appears to be on a glide path toward approval. Blanche has been serving as acting attorney general since April, but President Donald Trump has been intent on installing his former personal lawyer permanently.
Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said ahead of the vote that Cornyn and Tillis’ concerns about the fund “and the IRS settlement were shared by many, including this senator.” He added that the changes Blanche made “put this issue to bed once and for all.”
Democrats lambasted the deal Cornyn and Tillis struck, saying it would not meaningfully bind Trump from eventually resurrecting the payout fund and using his to enrich his political allies, including participants in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
“To state the obvious, Mr. Blanche’s statement on the slush fund and the IRS immunity agreement are not signed by the parties to the settlement agreement and are therefore unenforceable,” said Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the top Democrat on the panel. “The parties could still sue to enforce the agreement and the cop-beaters fund can easily be revived with a new order from the Department of Justice 15 minutes after Mr. Blanche is confirmed as attorney general.”
Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) said he “loves the state of Texas” but said the deal Cornyn agreed to is “all hat and no cattle.”
Booker, who is a vegan, asked, “Where’s the beef?”
Outside of the committee, there are a few GOP senators who could pose a hurdle in confirming Blanche, including Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, Sen. John Curtis of Utah and Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana.
Murkowski called the written elimination of the payout fund a “pretty good step” Monday, while the others said they continue to evaluate Blanche’s nomination.
All four have yet to commit to voting for Blanche, and as long as all Democrats are unified in voting against him, he can only lose two Republican votes given the absence of Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who has not voted since June due to health reasons.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he wants to get Blanche confirmed before senators leave as soon as the end of this week for an extended recess.
A lawyer for Rep. Max Miller took responsibility Tuesday for inadvertently releasing sensitive photos of the Ohio Republican’s daughter in a trove of material Miller published Sunday in a bid to defend himself against domestic abuse claims.
The attorney, Aaron Minc, took responsibility for the photo being released and called it “completely unintentional and a mistake” after a lawyer for Miller’s ex-wife, Emily Moreno, accused Miller of disseminating the daughter’s name and one image that “could be considered Child Sexual Abuse Material.”
“I am solely responsible for what happened,” Minc said in a statement. “I was the only person responsible for assembling, creating, reviewing, adding, deleting, redacting, or making any changes to the information and files that were in this folder.”
Minc apologized to Miller, Moreno and their families but also decried Moreno for creating “a media spectacle regarding this unfortunate mistake … as a means to try to gain leverage in court and distract from the underlying evidence that exonerates Mr. Miller from the false allegations he is accused of.”
Miller posted the documents online Sunday after delivering a livestreamed defense against the claims leveled by his former wife, Emily Moreno. He has declined all allegations of wrongdoing, which include pouring hot water on his ex-wife, holding a gun to her head and breaking his daughter’s collarbone.
Moreno’s lawyer Subodh Chandra claimed that the documents left the daughter’s name unredacted and contained “private images,” including one where “the daughter’s genitals appear to be visible,” according to a letter to Minc obtained by Blue Light News. Chandra noted that the photo was later removed.
“The post with the link to the folder — published under your name — garnered over 204,000 views from the time it was posted until this afternoon,” Chandra wrote.
The letter from Chandra asks Minc, “Whose idea was it to share this intimate image of the child?” among other questions, giving a Wednesday close-of-business deadline.
The letter marks the latest escalation in the legal battle between Miller and Moreno, who is the daughter of Ohio Sen. Bernie Moreno. After Miller delivered his livestreamed defense Sunday, the GOP senator denounced his former son-in-law, saying he should not serve in the House and needs to seek professional help.
Miller is running for reelection in a competitive Cleveland-area seat. He has until Wednesday to withdraw from the ballot and allow for a crash primary to replace him.
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